1st test for military courts set to begin

July 21, 2008|By The Washington Post

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — Nearly seven years after President George W. Bush declared an "extraordinary emergency" that empowered him to bring terrorists before military judges, Osama bin Laden's former driver is scheduled to go on trial Monday in the first test of whether that system can dispense fair and impartial justice.

THE DEFENDANT

Salim Ahmed Hamdan is accused of ferrying weapons for Al Qaeda. His lawyers insist he was a hired chauffeur.

THE PROCESS

The proceedings will unfold before a military commission -- the first since the end of World War II -- with a jury of uniformed officers and rules that give great deference to the prosecution. Evidence obtained from "cruel" and "inhuman" interrogation methods is admissible in certain circumstances, as is hearsay evidence.

RELEASE UNLIKELY

Even if Hamdan is acquitted of conspiracy and material support of terrorism charges, his "enemy combatant" designation means he probably will not be released.

DRY RUN

The proceedings are also a way to test the long-delayed military system on an accused low-level Al Qaeda foot soldier so it is primed for the self-confessed terrorist leaders to come. In line behind Hamdan at Guantanamo is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and other accused planners.

OPPOSITION

Whatever the verdict, opponents of the commissions already have pronounced them a failure. Human-rights activists and European leaders have long considered the system a legal sham designed to secure convictions.